A few moments later Bernie casually picked up a leaf from a leafpile laying out in the street for pickup. Since I hadn’t heard how big the world record was I offered her no encouragement as she proceeded to carefully carry it all the way back home.

This is that leaf (and Bernie) (more technical pictures at the bottom)

This is the letter that Bernie (10) is submitting to the Guinness Book folks:
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Dear Sirs,

I found a large maple leaf that appears to beat the record size that we read about in the news.